An unwritten contract does exist between the reader and the author.
A comment yesterday on one of my stories brought this home to me one more time.
A few years ago, I tried to write a story that would create a pile of revenue for Erin through Doppler Press. That effort failed. I have no interest in reading age regression/baby stories and shouldn’t have tried to write one. I donate my books to Erin and she receives 100% of the revenue. Unlike the other twelve of my books published by Doppler -- this one doesn’t sell much and received poor reviews.
I recently decided to edit my stories posted on BC. In my original planning this was one of six stories that I had decided was just not worth the effort. For some reason, I changed my mind and edited Sexy, Cute, and Popular. I toned down the parts that offended me and attached the following warning.
Moore’s family has fallen on hard times and it appears a college education just isn’t meant for him. His guidance counselor steers him to apply for a fantastic scholarship that covers all expenses, at a prestigious college on the west coast. Unfortunately, the scholarship requires that he win a letter in a sport and Moore is height-challenged. An improbable opportunity is presented that could be the answer to his needs and a means for him to become all those things that life has led him to believe he isn’t: Sexy, Cute, and Popular.
This short novel (just over 40,000 words) involves a college-aged protagonist. But because the story includes age regression and such things as diapers, bottle feeding, emotional abuse, and forced fem -- some might find it uncomfortable.
I originally wrote this as a commercial experiment for Doppler Press. Later, I read it and realized it was the worst story I’ve ever written. I’ve given it a major rewrite and feel much better about it. It will only be posted for free for a short time.
When I read a negative comment posted about this story yesterday my immediate reaction was – “Hey, I gave you fair warning.” But when I checked the story, I found that there is a glitch in the software. The story summary sometimes is shown and sometimes is not. I’m assuming this reader didn’t see the summary.
While that glitch is unfortunate it does illustrate a point. The reader is entitled to certain assumptions. Those that have read my other stories would assume that Sexy, Cute, and Popular would fit into a certain mode.
For an author to state that they don’t owe the reader an expected experience is akin to eating a sumptuous meal in a restaurant and deciding not to pay the bill. By ordering the meal you created an implied contract including paying the stated cost.
I once bought a John Grisham book (The Innocent Man) and got about twenty pages into it before I got a queasy feeling that something was wrong. It turned out to be his only non-fiction book and a very dissatisfying read. I’m sure had I read the blurb or the forward I would have been warned. But – I’d read so many Grisham books that I “knew” what to expect.
I don’t know why my story summary appears only when it apparently feels like t but I apologize to those who read Sexy, Cute, and Popular and felt that I had violated my contract with them.
Jill
Comments
"summaries"
What the software calls the summary is really a blurb for the front page or other listings of the abbreviated story box. Those are the only places it appears. Originally, Drupal was designed for publishing academic papers in colleges, so it has a few odd quirks. If you want the "summary" to appear always at the head of the story, don't put it in the summary box, put it at the top of the story box and leave the summary box blank.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Quirky
Normally the software is incredibly easy to use.
We work with dozens of insurance companies and are dumbfounded by what they think their customers should negotiate. We serve as an interface and have for decades. If it wasn't for big corporate inabilities we wouldn't have a job.
BCs system is amazing compared to what we work with -- with those huge companies.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
There is a lot of truth
in the Dilbert Cartoon Strip.
PHB's abound in most companies although they are being given a good run for their money by MBA's (More Bloody Assholes) who think that the business model that they learned in MBA 101 is good for every company under the sun.
I am so glad that I'm retired now. MBA's will soon be responsible for the demise of more companies than PHB's ever were. YMMV naturally.
Samantha
PS Feature Creep has destroyed more Software Projects than Erin has had hot dinners.
A well documented bug
As some mentor of mine said a few decades back: "A sufficiently well documented bug is indistinguishable from a feature." I'm sure you are well familiar with this troublesome yet exciting adventure into technology and information systems operations where we find ourselves. I love that you continue to operate this site. And I'm very happy that so many talented writers continue to post.
In this season of giving thanks I give my thanks to you and to all who make this site possible.
Your friend
Crash
Your attempt to pander to a niche market worked on me
But it was the other theme you were playing with in Sexy Cute + Popular that made me love this story. The one where a 14-19 year old boy finds Girl Power and The Magic of Friendship with a circle of young female pals who accept him/her as one of their own. Whether it's high school cheerleaders, a college sorority or a girl's cabin at a summer camp I always fall for these kinds of stories like a ton of bricks and this one was no exception. And your villain was effectively creepy and evil, and his downfall very satisfying. The infantilism stuff, well; I'll just say I support all harmless fetishes (the opprobrium fetishists face from stridently "normal" trans-people strikes me as sadly hypocritical, like we've learned NOTHING from how transphobes treat us!) and find the sheer variety of idiosyncratic turn-ons fascinating (until I found Fictionmania I never would've imagined there were people who didn't just want to wear a sexy dress, they wanted to turn into one, and feel the sensual thrill of being lovingly ironed by their mistress!). But when a fetish tale is written by someone who is totally into it + they dwell on all the libidinous little details for pages on end the going can get tedious for me if it's not a fetish I share in. Your delving into this theme was better because it wasn't the whole point of the story.
~hugs, Veronica
.
Now if you could write a Jello Fetish story I'd be a happy, happy gelatinophile!!!
(but it's gotta be LIME Jello because those other flavors aren't sexy at all...)
~hugs, Veronica
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
When It's Stroke Fiction
Does that mean it's a Peter Pan-der?
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Gender?
Are we talking about the right gender here?
-- Daphne Xu
If it's not a shared fetish...
Actually, that's a very good point. Sexy, Cute and Poplular is one of the first books I read when I first subscribed to Kindle Unlimited and started exploring all of these awesome books where characters were not solidly one gender or another. I wound up getting exposed to a lot of fetishes and sub genre before I started deciding what I liked and didn't like.
Sexy, Cute and Poplular sticks out as one of the most awesome books that covered those particular fetishes. And, yes, that makes sense. You wrote a really good story and didn't dwell on the the fetish parts. I can understand why you don't like the story. But it is a good story and I'm glad you published it.
While there is a degree of a contract between writer and reader
I also feel that you do yourself a disservice if you, personally, feel you let anyone down with your stories, hon, either in their original or newly edited forms, because you've shown over the years that you write a WIDE variety of content and are willing to dip your toes into a great many sub-genres.
For you, I'd say your contract with your readers as far as content goes begins and ends with your writing style and the generally high-quality content of your narratives, but does not extend to a guarantee of any particular content within said narrative (outside your love for perfumes, of course!)
You've written a number of stories over the years I wasn't personally comfortable with. Some of those I've finished regardless of that discomfort -- such as the first versions of She Like Me or To Alleviate Suffering -- and found them very worthwhile to have done so because you are very good at bringing your narratives around to satisfying conclusions. Others -- such as Sexy, Cute, and Popular itself -- I was unable to finish due to issues with the story content. This does not mean that you, as the author, failed me as a reader, or fell down on your 'contract' with me to provide a reading experience. All it means is that I, as a reader, am less open-minded to the content I want to see in stories than you, as an author, are willing to provide.
If anything, that makes the failure of keeping up the contract MY fault.
You're a good author, Jill. I won't criticize your work on Sexy, Cute, and Popular now any more than I did at the time, for the same reasons I begged off providing extensive feedback at its original release: it's a story that made me uncomfortable to the point I couldn't finish it, and that bias would have gotten in the way of providing objective feedback on the story itself. I will say this though: that no author, however good they may be, hits a home run with every story they write. Likewise, like any other artist you are often your own worst critic: like me, you have a bit of a perfectionist streak that can get in the way of being as happy with something as you think you should be before releasing it to the world, and like me that's something you need to get over, because I can assure you that there's a great many things you fret over that nobody else will ever notice :)
*hugs*
Keep up the great work, hon. And the VARIETY of work. It's that variety that makes your catalog so interesting to delve into. No, not every piece will appeal to every reader, but you'll always have something to appeal to ANY reader. That, in itself, is incredibly praiseworthy.
Melanie E.
Home run?
Lately it feels like I’ve been grounding out weakly to the pitcher or flying out to left field.
Love, Andrea Lena
Sah-wing
Battah, battah, battah.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Love of Perfume
Does it show?
My mother -- and probably your mother as well - often said the following.
Good -- better -- best
Never let it rest.
Until the Good is Better
And the Better is Best.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I didn't see the disclaimer
but I soon became aware of why you once said in another blog entry that you regretted writing it(my paraphrasing of what I remember reading). I just chose not to finish it.